Lauren Elkins

I served at Memphis Dream Center's Pop-Up Grocery Store again. This is a monthly grocery store for those in the Raleigh, North Memphis area to have a shopping experience for household items (broader community of Memphis; Raleigh population). It is really cool because it is completely free and anyone can come to it as long as they sign up for a slot! A big thing MDC wanted to do was fight food insecurity while also giving people an opportunity to feel important and select specific items for their specific needs. Something really cool that happened is that a girl who came to the store had her birthday. There is a baked goods section within the grocery store and she got a birthday cake! She said this was the first time she could get a birthday cake on her birthday!
My role: I served as the loading crew for shoppers where I took items from a shopping cart to their vehicle.
A personal value of mine is to serve and fight food insecurity. This type of event allows me to contribute directly to the food insecurity within the Memphis area. (Aligns with personal values) I had an interaction with the executive director of the Dream Center and she was correcting an action in my team. Basically, they were using the folding carts for shoppers to use as they went around the store. As a loading team, we took the cart and drove it outside to load it into the cars. Because of the limited number of carts, we needed to change from taking the carts outside and loading them to where we took all the bags from the cart inside and carrying them to the vehicles. She handled this very graciously and was very sweet when correcting us and I felt very encouraged by this. I want to take the way she handled the people interaction and apply it when I have to lead/manage teams. (Overseer of event and skill improvement)

I served at Memphis Dream Center's Pop-Up Grocery Store again. This is a monthly grocery store for those in the Raleigh, North Memphis area to have a shopping experience for household items (broader community of Memphis; Raleigh population). It is really cool because it is completely free and anyone can come to it as long as they sign up for a slot! A big thing MDC wanted to do was fight food insecurity while also giving people an opportunity to feel important and select specific items for their specific needs. Something really cool that happened is that a girl who came to the store had her birthday. There is a baked goods section within the grocery store and she got a birthday cake! She said this was the first time she could get a birthday cake on her birthday!
My role: I served as the loading crew for shoppers where I took items from a shopping cart to their vehicle.
A personal value of mine is to serve and fight food insecurity. This type of event allows me to contribute directly to the food insecurity within the Memphis area. (Aligns with personal values) I had an interaction with the executive director of the Dream Center and she was correcting an action in my team. Basically, they were using the folding carts for shoppers to use as they went around the store. As a loading team, we took the cart and drove it outside to load it into the cars. Because of the limited number of carts, we needed to change from taking the carts outside and loading them to where we took all the bags from the cart inside and carrying them to the vehicles. She handled this very graciously and was very sweet when correcting us and I felt very encouraged by this. I want to take the way she handled the people interaction and apply it when I have to lead/manage teams. (Overseer of event and skill improvement)

I went to the Binghamton Community Church and served with the Send Relief. We helped clean around the corner of the church picking up trash. I specifically went into the church cleaned the auditorium of trash and vacuumed. After that, I helped with the clothes they gave away for their monthly clothes drive. We were able to also clean up some litter along the property's fence line. I was able to make a clean environment for the church members and help organize clothes donations for the community to come and receive. It not only helped the community look cleaner but helped the people in it. Some of the church members were very grateful for us to be there, but one in particular had a snappy attitude. I still served with a good attitude even though I did not know what this individual had going on.

I would say my skill of patience and a good attitude while serving. It was hot and we could have let the environment dictate our attitudes, but we chose to be joyful. I would say my values are also identified within this. For one, serving people is a big value of mine, and having gratitude is another. I was grateful to serve and the ability to do it at service on Saturday.

The lady in charge of the project was Ms. Lisa. She was a cute, older lady and said she did this clothing drive before COVID every week. Post covid, they do it once a month. She was very sweet and helpful.

My time at the Food Bank specifically helped the workers at the bank get a task done faster with our help and it also helped the community by organizing diapers for the community to have. This time at MSFB we packaged diapers for 2-3 year olds. I built some boxes, put diapers in new bags, and taped up those boxes. It was very simple because we had to put 25 diapers in each bag and there were 26 in the prepackaged part. This will specifically be good for parents who need diapers and cannot financially afford them. They will be able to have this need met by the Mid-South Food Bank.

I learned that the Mid-South food bank will package items the same across boxes to have consistency across the board (this is specifically for diapers). So, when you are repackaging a product, it must be a certain count in a fresh bag.
I worked with Rosa and we tackled one section of the diaper repackaging. I made up some boxes and she put stickers on the new bags that said "2-3 years old". We counted diapers and put them in the new bags together, and I taped up the boxes.
I value fighting food insecurity and the MSFB is working at finding a solution for this. I would love to come back and serve here and always see what I can learn to gain more understanding of how a non-profit works.

I worked at the Mid-South Food Bank. I was a part of the boxing crew. I took to mostly sorted food items and put them in the boxes with each category. For example, there were four sections for canned goods. It was a fairly simple process and it went by super fast. I really enjoyed it and I am glad to be a part of fighting food insecurity. This is a practical solution for those in the community who are in need of food. It meets the need for heavily consumed food items.

The man over the volunteers that day gave a long orientation to organize the food. There are a lot of safety measures that go into food and distributing it. This is for the volunteers and the people that will receive the food. He was very clear and as a group, we all understood his directions.
I worked with two men from a church and we were on can duty. We sorted cans based on what was in them. We also boxed up and put the boxes on a palate. They were very helpful and we had a good time doing so.
During my time, I realized how much the Mid-South Food Bank relies on volunteers to do what they are doing. While it is for the community, it takes the community to get it done and run it. I hope to continue to come back and serve here more.

We were able to plant trees and it was so much fun. I got to use the shovel that digs the hole straight verses at an angle. At first we were an all girl team but some guys helped us out toward the end.